The USA Today article was odd. Of course Jeff Davis was an accomplished citizen before he was President of the Confederacy, his achievements were what made him a logical choice for the position.

And what about the statement of ancestors, "(Slavery) was the standard of the day — it's the way the world was."

Actually, slavery was on the road to extinction before Jefferson Davis was even born.

According to Wikipedia, “Revolutionary France abolished slavery in 1794, but it was restored by Napoleon ... Haiti achieved independence from France in 1804 and brought an end to slavery in its territory, establishing the second republic in the western hemisphere. Britain banned the importation of African slaves in its colonies in 1807, and the United States followed in 1808. Britain abolished slavery throughout the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, the French colonies abolished it 15 years later.

I can agree that most US Citizens were racist by today’s standard, and I can agree that slavery was an inseparable part of southern culture. But I can’t agree that "(Slavery) was the standard of the day — it's the way the world was." Unless, one thinks that the world was the southern states of the US.